Packing Up Suzie
by Nightengale
Summary: The day after Suzie kills herself Ianto must pack up her belonging to store away forever.


Torchwood employees are required as a term of their employment contract to supply copies of all keys to their home when they are hired. Thus, the day after Suzie shot herself and Gwen took her place Ianto had no problem getting into Suzie's flat. He did get a funny look from a young girl coming out of the next door flat. Clearly Suzie didn't get many visitors.

Inside Ianto put down the boxes he had brought and did a quick walk through of the apartment and its contents. It was certainly going to take a long time. There were at least three full book cases in the den and Ianto found a very cluttered office with booklets, papers, and files stacked on nearly every surface. Some of it was plainly research from Torchwood while others must have been of Suzie's own endeavors.

"This is going to take all week…" Ianto muttered.

He was trying to distance himself from the task. Suzie and he had not been best friends or spent much time together outside of work even. Still he had felt a sort of camaraderie with her. She had the same sort of sadness in her eyes which he felt every day. Suzie used to challenge Jack over devices they found and Ianto would calmly back her up or nudge Jack in the right direction. The five of them had been out to the pub on rare occasion together as well. Suzie sometimes used to even stop and chat with him in the mornings up in reception.

"Ianto will you deign to have some Starbucks?" She said.

Ianto looked up from his file and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Not decaf is it?"

Suzie laughed and placed the cup on the counter. "Now, would I ever do that to you?"

"You never know," Ianto said. "You might have had some devious plan to make me fall asleep."

"That would be an Owen thing to do." Suzie chuckled.

Shaking his head Ianto picked up a box and went over to the bookshelf by the door. It was five shelves high and just above Ianto's head. Starting with the top shelf Ianto began taking the books down and placing them in the box at his feet.

"Tennyson, Poe, Dickinson… poetry fan were you?" Ianto muttered as he worked.

Filling up his first box with the top two shelves Ianto taped it closed and labeled the top. The first box of Suzie Costello's life completed. Ianto sighed and stood up straight, hands on his hips. It was strangely ironic that Ianto would probably learn more about Suzie packing away her belongings after she was dead than in the year he had known her at Torchwood.

Ianto worked for half an hour just getting all of Suzie's books into boxes. He had to admit that seeing all of Suzie's bookshelves empty made him feel somewhat guilty. He couldn't inform her family, if she even had any that she was dead since Suzie destroyed her computer records. It was possible, however, that he could find something here if he looked.

There was a knock at the door. Ianto turned at the sound of the door opening and saw Jack standing there.

"I came to help you." Jack said.

"Thank you, sir," Ianto replied.

Jack gave Ianto a slight crooked smile. "Don't thank me, Ianto." He stepped in and closed the door behind him. He looked around the room once and then back at Ianto. "It's really my fault we are here anyway."

"Don't blame yourself," Ianto said.

"No," Jack stopped Ianto as he walked past him to look about the adjoining kitchen. "No, Ianto, I gave her that glove to work on. It is my fault for not keeping her better in check."

It seemed to Ianto that Jack was talking to himself but he replied regardless, "This is Suzie we're talking about, Jack." He looked up when Ianto used his name. "She was more stubborn than any of us. You would have lost in any fight or anything in any attempt to 'check' her."

Jack laughed dryly. "I guess."

Ianto nodded then turned away back to the task at hand. He heard Jack walk down the hall behind him to Suzie's office.

"Did she have enough papers?" Jack called incredulously.

Ianto looked up at the hall and smiled sadly. It seemed Jack wanted to try and distance himself as well. Perhaps it was partially Jack's fault for what happened to Suzie. But it had not been Jack that murdered those people; it was Suzie. Yet Ianto knew that Jack would still blame himself for awhile. Jack would miss her despite what she did.

Walking over to the window there was a table covered with a multitude of things such as a hair brush and a cell phone charger. Beside a lamp on the corner of the table Ianto found some framed photographs. There was one of Suzie and an older man whom Ianto assumed must be her father. Another in a silver metal frame was just of Suzie with some dangly earrings smiling. Ianto remembered Owen had taken the picture when they were all out on run, even Ianto, to pick up something Tosh had tracked on the scanners.

"Come on now Suzie, smile for the camera."

"Stop it, Owen." Suzie put up her hand to block him.

Jack and Tosh were scanning a large cupboard where they were in the immense basement of a farmhouse. It had been emitting some interesting signals and Jack had told the other three of them to 'just wait there' by the stairs. Ianto stood beside Owen trying to avoid attention. It had been a bad day for Lisa and he was anxious to get back to the hub yet trying not to show it.

"Come on Suzie, just one smile," Owen insisted.

"Leave her alone, Owen," Ianto said.

Suzie looked down at her palm pilot and clearly tired to ignore Owen.

"How about you then, Ianto?" Owen turned suddenly and snapped a picture of Ianto.

Suzie looked up and laughed at Ianto's shocked face.

"I'm going to look like an idiot," Ianto said.

"No change then is it?" Owen said with a smirk.

"Wanker," Ianto muttered.

Suzie laughed more and grinned at them both. Owen raised the camera and snapped Suzie smiling happily at them.

Ianto couldn't help but smile at the photograph in his hand. Owen must have given it to Suzie during the short time the two of them had been involved. It had always surprised Ianto that Suzie had gone for Owen. He seemed too flirty and cocky to fit well with the rational workaholic Suzie. Perhaps that was why they did not last long. Then again she had always seemed to enjoy the flirting.

The last photograph on the table made Ianto stop and pick it up. It was of himself, Suzie, and Tosh. The three of them were in a bar with their glasses held up all smiling. Ianto recalled it had been two weeks after his transfer to Torchwood 3 and the girls had decided to take him out to get him 'properly inducted' as they had said.

"All right so we all have our drinks?" Suzie said. The other two nodded. "All right," she held up her glass. "To-"

"Wait!" Tosh said.

Tosh pulled a camera out of her purse and handed it to the bar tender. They all smiled, full beers raised while he snapped the picture.

"Ok then," Suzie nodded and began again. "To the newest member of Torchwood 3, Ianto Jones."

"Here, here!" Tosh said.

They clinked glasses and drank.

"Thanks," Ianto grinned. "It's a lot smaller than Torchwood 1 was but-"

"But its Cardiff and you'll love our crazy rift!" Suzie finished.

"Indeed," Tosh said.

Ianto felt a sudden tightness in his chest as he looked down at the photograph in its brown frame. Such moments had been few and bar between but they had happened. When they had occurred Ianto did recall feeling happy despite his situation, despite Lisa, despite the memories of Torchwood 1, he had felt happy. Little times and little things that had passed between him and Suzie, a night out at the bar with Suzie and Tosh, joking about Starbucks, teasing the pterodactyl, they were all memories that Ianto could look back on and not feel pain over. There weren't many of these in the past; mostly it was just work for all five of them, just work. But sometimes there were stupid pictures or beers or doodles during meetings, not just work.

With a quick glance to the hall where Jack had gone Ianto took the picture out of the frame and put it in his jacket pocket.


End file.
